Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of this season, closing one of the greatest careers in NFL history.

Lewis told the team that "this will be my last ride."

Lewis says "it is time for me to create a new legacy" after 17 NFL seasons.

He's not ready to say if he's going to be healthy enough to play for the first time since tearing his triceps two months ago when the Ravens play host to the Colts in Sunday's wild-card game. All he said was that he's on the active roster.

Sunday will likely be Lewis' final game in Baltimore.

He returned to practice on Dec. 5, and in order for him to be eligible for the playoffs, the Ravens added him to the active roster later in the month.

Lewis has gone to 13 Pro Bowls, been named first-team All-Pro seven times and has been voted NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice.

He led the Ravens to the 2000 Super Bowl when he was the key figure on a defense that set the NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season.

Lewis had hinted at retirement previously. He said last summer that he couldn't see himself playing past the age of 37. Lewis turned 37 in May.

Ray Lewis: “This will be my last ride”Posted by Michael David Smith on January 2, 2013, 12:18 PM EST

One of the greatest players in NFL history is preparing to hang it up after the playoffs.

Ray Lewis, the Ravens linebacker and future Pro Football Hall of Famer, said today that he plans to retire following this season. The Ravens open the playoffs on Sunday against the Colts, in what will likely be Lewis’s last game in Baltimore.

“This will be my last ride,” Lewis said.

The Ravens’ first-round pick in the 1996 NFL draft, Lewis has been chosen to 13 Pro Bowls, is a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and was the Super Bowl XXXV Most Valuable Player.

Lewis’s decision is no surprise: At age 37, he has already played far longer than most NFL linebackers, and this season has been a disappointment, with a torn triceps muscle causing him to miss 10 games. Lewis also said on ProFootballTalk Live in October that he wants to step away from the game in time to watch his son play at the University of Miami next season, and there’s already speculation that he’ll line up a post-NFL job at ESPN.

So while players sometimes change their minds about retirement, this doesn’t seem like a rash decision for Lewis. These playoffs will probably be the last opportunity for football fans to see one of the best linebackers ever to play the game.

One of the greatest players in history; I feel fortunate to have watched him play.

1st ballot IMO.

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January 2nd, 2013, 1:51 pm

regularjoe12

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: March 30th, 2006, 12:48 amPosts: 4180Location: Davison Mi

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

screw going to ESPN, Lewis needs to be a coach. the man is one helluva motivaotr and KNOWS how to run a defense. He could be All Time Great IMO.

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January 2nd, 2013, 2:54 pm

DJ-B

Pro Bowl Player

Joined: April 5th, 2007, 5:51 pmPosts: 2563

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

The same was said of Singletary. It just doesnt work that way. Not saying he couldnt suceed, and fully agree about the motivator part, and he should get into coaching. he would be great coming into a team as a LB Coach to start, and if he earnes his way to DC then so be it.

The same was said of Singletary. It just doesnt work that way. Not saying he couldnt suceed, and fully agree about the motivator part, and he should get into coaching. he would be great coming into a team as a LB Coach to start, and if he earnes his way to DC then so be it.

I agree. He more or less is Singletary to a tee... God fearing, hard hitting, hard nosed LB guy.

I agree that he would be a great LB coach, but I'm not sure he would succeed beyond that. I' not saying he wouldn't, but great players tend to emphasize their role and the importance of their role on the D more so than other positions, rather than taking a more complete approach to the game. They can have tunnel vision, and that's never good, for any coach.

January 2nd, 2013, 5:38 pm

regularjoe12

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: March 30th, 2006, 12:48 amPosts: 4180Location: Davison Mi

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

Yeah he should start as a lb coach for sure, and if he succeeds as I believe he would maybe as go as high as a DC ( where Singletary should have been) only if he showed long term success there should he be considered for a HC spot.

I do feel he'd make a damn fine DC though.

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January 2nd, 2013, 7:54 pm

DJ-B

Pro Bowl Player

Joined: April 5th, 2007, 5:51 pmPosts: 2563

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

regularjoe12 wrote:

Yeah he should start as a lb coach for sure, and if he succeeds as I believe he would maybe as go as high as a DC ( where Singletary should have been) only if he showed long term success there should he be considered for a HC spot.

I do feel he'd make a damn fine DC though.

100% Agree. Currently hes the LB Coach / Special Assistant to the HC for the Vikings. Hell be back at DC somewhere eventually.

The legacy of Ray Lewis, for me, is complicated. I can't assess the career and the man, the player and the leader, without including one messy part of his past.

Because we know what Lewis has done as a football player: He will go down as the greatest middle linebacker of all time, a vicious intimidator who, in his prime, covered the football field with incredible speed and hit with force. He was so dominant that opposing teams played away from him. He has defined the Baltimore Ravens franchise and personified the city in which he has played for 17 seasons.

Lewis' longevity is unheard of in this era of free agency. Few players spend an entire career in one city, much less for 17 seasons. Joe Montana, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, all defined their franchises for more than a decade, and all three ended up chasing the ghost elsewhere.

Not Lewis. On Wednesday, Lewis told his teammates that he would retire after the Ravens' playoff race is complete. The era will end, and for the first time the Ravens will have to face a future without Lewis. That so many of his teammates, not to mention head coach John Harbaugh, stood and watched Lewis' news conference to announce his decision, after already listening to Lewis tell them during a team meeting, spoke volumes about how they feel about him. There is love and respect and admiration for a man who has dedicated his adult life to his craft, to being physically and mentally sharper than the opponent and to adapting when his physical gifts diminished.

His individual accomplishments are tremendous and will make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2018: 12 career Pro Bowl appearances, seven first team All-Pro selections, 227 starts in 228 career games, one Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award, two Defensive Player of the Year honors. He was the young cornerstone of the Ravens in 2000, led by Rod Woodson, that set an NFL record for the fewest points allowed in a 16-game season and smothered the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, winning 34-7.

Lewis has dedicated himself to giving back to the Baltimore community and to kids. He does extensive work in the community for the Ravens, some things that are publicized and others that are not. Lewis distributes school supplies to kids before each year. He distributes meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and provides toys for kids at Christmas.

Kevin Byrne is the Ravens' vice president of public and community relations and has been with the franchise since 1981, when it was still in Cleveland. He has watched every snap Lewis has played as a pro. He relayed a story that a police officer once told him and Lewis confirmed.

Once while driving the streets of Baltimore en route to the Ravens' team hotel on a Saturday afternoon, Lewis witnessed a drug pusher give a kid a packet. The kid ran to a car, gave the passenger the packet, and then returned to the pusher with money. Lewis got out of his car, and berated the pusher.

"How can you do this to a child?" Lewis asked the guy. "You were a child once? Who corrupted you? This is not the way to go."

Lewis invited the pusher to join him for a weekly workout he led at the Ravens practice facility for police officers. The pusher showed up with a handful of friends and started to turn his life around.

When the NFL sought a player to do a voice-over for its one-minute Super Bowl message last year about how the game has evolved and become safer, Lewis was asked to do it, and he did. He is in a current commercial for the league about the same topic, with Tom Brady and an actress portraying his mother.

Lewis has also counseled countless peers about how to avoid the pratfalls and problems that come with being a high-profile, wealthy, sought-after professional athlete. He has hundreds of players' numbers in his phone. He listens and leads.

The complexity of Lewis' legacy, for me, comes in what happened outside an Atlanta nightclub in January 2000, the night after the Super Bowl was played there, when Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker were stabbed to death. Lewis was indicted on two murder charges, and six months later he pleaded to a misdemeanor obstruction of justice charge in exchange for his testimony against two other defendants, who were ultimately acquitted. It is an indelible part of his history, just like the No. 52 on his jersey. He was there. He lied about it. Then he took a plea deal.

Then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined Lewis $250,000 for conduct detrimental to the league. At the time, it was the largest such fine in NFL history, and it came with a caveat: If Lewis violated any part of his yearlong probation, the league would fine him an additional $250,000. Lewis did not give the league a reason to take any more of his money.

"If you remember, that was quite a hit," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "To see where he is today is remarkable. I would say it's a rather amazing comeback and rehabilitation of an image."

Some, like me, will never forget. Others, particularly young people, probably don't even remember. I certainly don't discredit Lewis' entire body of work, because he was a fantastic player who incredibly recovered from an event that, at the time, cast a dark cloud over the Ravens and the NFL. But the cynic in me, the realist in me, can't overlook it.

"When we talked immediately afterward, he was bitter and angry the way it had been covered," Byrne said. "We said, 'Ray, the reason we supported you from Day One and believed in you is because we know you. You need to show the world who you are, rise above it, so to speak, and that's exactly what he did.'"

Byrne called the breadth of Lewis' charity work "huge" and his impact on his teammates immense. Lewis invested in video equipment to watch film at home long ago and has held Wednesday and Thursday evening film sessions at his home for years. He is beloved by teammates, who recently started calling Lewis "Mufasa" in a nod to the central character from the "Lion King."

Byrne said he does not think Lewis is wrapped up in how people will view his legacy, the good or the bad.

"He's so deeply religious I think it matters to him less than people might think," Byrne said. "He's a big believer in God's will. He says, 'God put me in that prison for 10 days for a reason. There's a reason my kids saw me in an orange jump suit with my hands cuffed. There's a reason I tore my hamstring in 2005. There's a reason I tore my triceps.' His legacy, I don't think it consumes him. He is one who says, 'The best you can do is the best you can do.'"

Lewis was the best ever to play his position. He will be remembered for many things -- his football success, his charity work, his sense of humor, how he is as a man -- but because of what happened that night in Atlanta, I will always view his as a complicated legacy.

I'm surprised nobody is on here talking about the game the Ravens had last night. Ray didn't seem to have his usual noticeable impact, but he put up 17 tackles (10 solo)!! Flacco stepped up big time and got bailed out a bit by his receivers on some great catches, but that bomb to Jacoby Jones to tie the game at the end was a play that will be talked about for a long time if the Ravens advance to the Super Bowl. I think that was one of the best games I've seen in a long long time.

January 13th, 2013, 11:46 am

kdsberman

League MVP

Joined: February 20th, 2007, 10:51 pmPosts: 3485Location: Saginaw, MI

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

inheritedlionsfan wrote:

I'm surprised nobody is on here talking about the game the Ravens had last night. Ray didn't seem to have his usual noticeable impact, but he put up 17 tackles (10 solo)!! Flacco stepped up big time and got bailed out a bit by his receivers on some great catches, but that bomb to Jacoby Jones to tie the game at the end was a play that will be talked about for a long time if the Ravens advance to the Super Bowl. I think that was one of the best games I've seen in a long long time.

Depending how he does in the next game, that big throw he made at the end of regulation just MIGHT have earned him his new contract.

January 13th, 2013, 12:10 pm

sweetd20

Pro Bowl Player

Joined: October 13th, 2005, 9:03 amPosts: 2489

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

Don't forget he did more than his share last year to get them into the Super Bowl. Cundiff missed a FG and Evans dropped the TD pass.

January 13th, 2013, 12:35 pm

The Legend

HC – Jim Caldwell

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4699Location: WSU

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

You need only watch the terrible dancing and post game interviews to know that there is something dramatically wrong with this man. Then if you re actually curious dig a little further and you have the murders. Lewis is a great football player but celebrating him just doesnt feel right.

January 13th, 2013, 12:36 pm

The Legend

HC – Jim Caldwell

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4699Location: WSU

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

inheritedlionsfan wrote:

I'm surprised nobody is on here talking about the game the Ravens had last night. Ray didn't seem to have his usual noticeable impact, but he put up 17 tackles (10 solo)!! Flacco stepped up big time and got bailed out a bit by his receivers on some great catches, but that bomb to Jacoby Jones to tie the game at the end was a play that will be talked about for a long time if the Ravens advance to the Super Bowl. I think that was one of the best games I've seen in a long long time.

I felt like the 49ers were much more impressive. That big play by Flacco-Jones in my eyes was a good throw by Flacco, an awful play by the Denver safety and a below average play by Jones who shouldve been coming back to the ball and trying to catch it at the highest point possible but he got bailed out when the safety misplayed it rather than intercepted it. Coach Fox pulled a Coach Schwartz when he didnt let Peyton pass on 3rd and 7 with a chance to run out the remainder of the clock and his great punter Colquitt let him down with a terrible punt to follow it. I just didnt think the football being played in that game was of high quality despite the game being exciting.

The 49ers are an old school based team mixing in new school wrinkles. They are built with an outstanding OL and supplemental blockers in Bruce Miller, Delanie Walker and have very good skill players with Crabtree, Davis and Gore. The defensive personnel is phenomenol. I felt Aaron Rodgers played as well as he could have but his OL was marginal vs the 49ers front and his dinged up WRs couldnt do enough to help him. Eventually the short passing game couldnt keep up and what I saw was the 49ers crippling the Packers with superior talent and scheme. The 49ers will be tough to beat, possibly Seattle could put them down (i doubt it would be 42-13 like 3 weeks ago) and maybe Belichik could come up with something to slow them down but I think they have to be the favorites after that performance.

January 13th, 2013, 12:46 pm

DJ-B

Pro Bowl Player

Joined: April 5th, 2007, 5:51 pmPosts: 2563

Re: Ray Lewis to retire after season

The Legend wrote:

You need only watch the terrible dancing and post game interviews to know that there is something dramatically wrong with this man. Then if you re actually curious dig a little further and you have the murders. Lewis is a great football player but celebrating him just doesnt feel right.

1) The Dancing... really?

2) Only saw 1 postgame interview but saw nothing wrong with it.

3) When the retirement announcement was made i posted about the murders. the more I dug into it, the less i was worried about it.

He is 1 of the best players ever, and I see no reason not to celebrate what he meant to the game of fooball.

You need only watch the terrible dancing and post game interviews to know that there is something dramatically wrong with this man. Then if you re actually curious dig a little further and you have the murders. Lewis is a great football player but celebrating him just doesnt feel right.

1) The Dancing... really?

2) Only saw 1 postgame interview but saw nothing wrong with it.

3) When the retirement announcement was made i posted about the murders. the more I dug into it, the less i was worried about it.

He is 1 of the best players ever, and I see no reason not to celebrate what he meant to the game of fooball.

...football fans should not be ashamed of loving Ray Lewis. He’s earned our admiration and respect.

That is not written to exonerate Lewis in the 2000 double-murder trial that nearly cost him his freedom, nor is it written to minimize the seriousness of the tragedy. It’s written to convey none of us is Perry Mason, none of us know what happened before, during or after Lewis, his friends and the victims stepped inside the limousine on that night. We can speculate. We can piece together clues. We can read into the fact Lewis reached financial settlements with the families of the deceased. We can express and feel deep sympathy for the deceased and their families.

But we cannot know. What’s done is done. Our criminal justice system reached a plea agreement with Lewis to testify against the men the courts believed were responsible for the killings, and the courts charged Lewis with obstruction of justice. There were no convictions at the trial.

I’m not granting Lewis forgiveness based on legal technicalities. I’m giving it to him based on common sense, life experience, an understanding of our criminal justice system and, most important, based on the way Lewis has conducted himself since the trial.

I agree with this. None of us know what truly happened, but we do know that the criminal justice system did not charge him with anything, and there were no convictions. So I don't think any of us can honestly claim he is a murderer.

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